One of the greats in the history of correspondence chess has died. Lothar Schmid finished second in the Second World Correspondence Championship a half point behind Viacheslav Ragozin.

In the Dyckhoff Memorial (1954-56) Schmid had an outstanding result against the best postal players of the day, finishing two points ahead of the field which included Alberic O’Kelly, Max Salm, Mario Napolitano and the USA’s C. Fred Tears, with an undefeated 14-1 score.

Lothar had many accomplishments beyond correspondence play including Grandmaster titles in both OTB and correspondence chess. He was the chief arbiter of the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship and also Karpov-Korchnoi and Kasparov-Karpov matches.

Schmid also amassed one of the great chess libraries of the world, an estimated 50,000 volumes.

GAME OF THE MONTH

RUY LOPEZ (C82)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Nxe4

The Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez has largely fallen out of favor since the Karpov-Korchnoi World Championship games of 1978.

11. Qe2 Bf5 has been known to be equal since Morgado-Toranzo, Internac.Extraord 1966

11...f5

Black has three other reasonable responses here. 11...Nxd2 may be the weakest. White responds with 12. Qxd2! and transferring the Queen to f4 with attacking chances. White scores 62% in that line.11...Bf5 is the safest, though White keeps an edge after 12. Nb3 Bg4 as in Karpov-Korchnoi, World Championship 1978.

LEARN CHESS BY MAIL ! Lessons given by mail, telephone, ICC – many different ways. I specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their game. Contact me for information. Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart St., Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected]

THE ABSOLUTE CORRESPONDENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES CHESS FEDERATION 1976-2010

is now available at McFarland Publishers and Amazon for $45.00 and also Kindle at $16.49

NEW! 2006 Electronic Knights Championship ebook. 190 games some annotated, all the crosstables, bios of the top three, list of all the finalists, ChessBase format, .pgn notation and Microsoft .pdf format. $4.00 postage paid for the disk, $2.00 sent to you via email. Hard copy $10 postage included.

Matthew Lasley submits this win over William Schaffert to even up the score to tie for first place in 12W30.

ALEKHINE’S DEFENSE (B02)

Quote: I began to play postal chess. At one point I was playing fifty games at once, using booklets from Chess Review -- pg. 22 of The Stress of Chess and Its Infinite Finesse by Walter Browne

OBITUARY

Thomas Feeney of Racine, Wisconsin was born October 14, 1947 and died May 13, 2013. Thomas was a poet, writer, and chessplayer.

RUY LOPEZ (C89)

TWELFTH NORTH AMERICAN INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

This year the 12th North American Invitational Correspondence Chess Championship and the North Atlantic/Pacific Zonal Championship have merged to produce a 17-man Category 6 tournament. A score of 11 ½- 4 ½ is needed for a Grandmaster norm, 10 points for an IM norm.

The line up for the championship has two Grandmasters – Mark Noble from New Zealand and Sakae Ohtaka from Japan; three Senior International Masters, Brian Anderson from New Zealand and Thomas Biedermann and Kristo Miettinen, both from the US; and seven International Masters, three from Canada – Alan Pichaud, Richard Labonte, and Valer-Eugen Demian, two from Australia – Clive Murden and John Paul Fenwick, and two from the US – Kenneth Holroyd and John Ballow.

There are five strong players, hungry for a title, Paul Morley of Canada, Harry Ingersol of the US, Loren Schmidt of Japan, Allan Johnston, of Hong Kong and Juan Gustavo Mercader Martinez of Mexico.

Brent Riggs tells of an opponent he calls Mr. Winatallcosts. Mr. Winatallcosts was winning the game but Riggs was resisting. Then came the postcards saying he should resign as he was losing. Then cards saying Mr. Winatallcosts was ill and please resign before he died. Then a letter from Mr. Winatallcosts wife saying he had only two weeks to live. The Misses was prepared to carry on as he gave his moves from beneath the oxygen tent. His dying wish was Riggs should resign. A victory now would push him over the 2200 mark and he could die knowing he was a Master.

But finally Mr. Winatallcosts won the game. Riggs received a four page letter from Mr. Winatallcosts asking for forgiveness as he had been lying. He was in good health and had used the illness as a psychological weapon. He had hoped his opponents would underestimate him and take him for granted.

One of the most original attacking games --- ever !?

CENTER COUNTER (B01)

At the end the two passed Rook Pawns triumph.

SICILIAN DEFENSE (B80)

Black plays the French Offense in this game.

FRENCH DEFENSE (C02)

The diagram is reminiscent of an almost surreal Escher print of birds flying south